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Marine sparks debate over military sexual assaults

A young officer in the depths of the Pentagon bureaucracy has touched off a vigorous debate over the sexual assault "crisis" in the military. Capt. Lindsay Rodman, a Harvard educated Marine Corps lawyer, has

Marine sparks debate over military sexual assaults

From the depths of the Pentagon bureaucracy a young officer has touched off a vigorous debate over the scope of the sexual assault "crisis" in the military.

Capt. Lindsay Rodman, a Harvard-educated Marine Corps lawyer, has raised questions about the methodology of the widely quoted study used to determine the scope of the sexual assault problem in the military.

In an interview with USA TODAY and an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal

"If we are exaggerating what is going on rather than being precise about it then we are doing ourselves a disservice by helping perpetuate the problem," Rodman told USA TODAY in an interview.

The Pentagon said it stands by its report.

"I don't think any of us here in the department have a vested interest in wanting to exaggerate the problem," Nathan Galbreath, a top official in the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, told USA TODAY.